Download or read book The Science of Writing Characters written by Kira-Anne Pelican and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2020-11-26 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Science of Writing Characters is a comprehensive handbook to help writers create compelling and psychologically-credible characters that come to life on the page. Drawing on the latest psychological theory and research, ranging from personality theory to evolutionary science, the book equips screenwriters and novelists with all the techniques they need to build complex, dimensional characters from the bottom up. Writers learn how to create rounded characters using the 'Big Five' dimensions of personality and then are shown how these personality traits shape action, relationships and dialogue. Throughout The Science of Writing Characters, psychological theories and research are translated into handy practical tips, which are illustrated through examples of characters in action in well-known films, television series and novels, ranging from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and Game of Thrones to The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Goldfinch. This very practical approach makes the book an engaging and accessible companion guide for all writers who want to better understand how they can make memorable characters with the potential for global appeal.
Download or read book The Science of Screenwriting written by Paul Joseph Gulino and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-02-08 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world awash in screenwriting books, The Science of Screenwriting provides an alternative approach that will help the aspiring screenwriter navigate this mass of often contradictory advice: exploring the science behind storytelling strategies. Paul Gulino, author of the best-selling Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, and Connie Shears, a noted cognitive psychologist, build, chapter-by-chapter, an understanding of the human perceptual/cognitive processes, from the functions of our eyes and ears bringing real world information into our brains, to the intricate networks within our brains connecting our decisions and emotions. They draw on a variety of examples from film and television -- The Social Network, Silver Linings Playbook and Breaking Bad -- to show how the human perceptual process is reflected in the storytelling strategies of these filmmakers. They conclude with a detailed analysis of one of the most successful and influential films of all time, Star Wars, to discover just how it had the effect that it had.
Download or read book Story Genius written by Lisa Cron and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story. It’s every novelist’s greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page one rewrite. The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don’t work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think). In Story Genius Cron takes you, step-by-step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete multilayered blueprint—including fully realized scenes—that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.
Download or read book Elements of Fiction Writing Characters Viewpoint written by Orson Scott Card and published by Writer's Digest Books. This book was released on 1999-03-15 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vivid and memorable characters aren't born: they have to be made. &break;&break;This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your memory, your imagination and your soul. &break;&break;Award-winning author Orson Scott Card explains in depth the techniques of inventing, developing and presenting characters, plus handling viewpoint in novels and short stories. With specific examples, he spells out your narrative options–the choices you'll make in creating fictional people so "real" that readers will feel they know them like members of their own families. &break;&break;You'll learn how to: &break; draw the characters from a variety of sources, including a story's basic idea, real life–even a character's social circumstances&break; make characters show who they are by the things they do and say, and by their individual "style"&break; develop characters readers will love–or love to hate&break; distinguish among major characters, minor characters and walk-ons, and develop each one appropriately&break; choose the most effective viewpoint to reveal the characters and move the storytelling&break; decide how deeply you should explore your characters' thoughts, emotions and attitudes
Download or read book Writing Science written by Joshua Schimel and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-01-26 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes an integrated approach, using the principles of story structure to discuss every aspect of successful science writing, from the overall structure of a paper or proposal to individual sections, paragraphs, sentences, and words. It begins by building core arguments, analyzing why some stories are engaging and memorable while others are quickly forgotten, and proceeds to the elements of story structure, showing how the structures scientists and researchers use in papers and proposals fit into classical models. The book targets the internal structure of a paper, explaining how to write clear and professional sections, paragraphs, and sentences in a way that is clear and compelling.
Download or read book The Secrets of Character written by Matt Bird and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful and actionable guide to creating a hero that readers will fall in love with, from the author of The Secrets of Story The hardest yet most essential element of writing great fiction is character – specifically, creating a central hero who is relatable, compelling, and worth the reader’s precious time. In this entertaining and practical guide, popular blogger, writing coach and screenwriter Matt Bird breaks down what makes characters embraceable and unforgettable, and presents insider tips and tricks for writers of all levels and genres. Generously packed with examples from popular books and movies analyzed with engaging specificity, this expert guide reveals what makes audiences believe, care, and invest in great characters – and how to bring your own characters vividly to life.
Download or read book Writing Great Characters written by Michael Halperin and published by Lone Eagle Publishing Company, LLC. This book was released on 1996 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This valuable book identifies and solves a major problem for writers -- creating characters who are so real they literally jump of the page. Halperin has developed an easy-to-understand, logical system which gives all screenwriters a foolproof and fail-proof method of developing great characters. Writing Great Characters is a book for all writers, from the expert who is looking to polish his techniques to the novice who wants to learn the craft from an expert.
Download or read book Dangerous written by Shannon Hale and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-04-10 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maisie 'Danger' Brown needs excitement. When she wins a harmless-sounding competition to go to astronaut boot camp, that's exactly what she gets . . . But she never imagined it would feature stumbling into a terrifying plot that kills her friends and might just kill her too. Now there's no going back. Maisie has to live by her middle name if she wants to survive – and she'll need to be equally courageous to untangle the romance in her life too. A clever, suspenseful thriller-adventure by New York Times bestselling author and master storyteller Shannon Hale.
Download or read book The Psychology Workbook for Writers written by Darian Smith and published by Wooden Tiger Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writers know that their characters and stories should be multi-layered and believable. Now here's a simple workbook that uses the same knowledge that gives therapists insight into human behaviour to create fiction that hits the mark. Each chapter outlines an aspect of psychological theory as it can be used for writing and provides two worksheets to translate it into action - one to develop characters, one to develop the story. Darian Smith is a prize winning fiction writer with a degree in psychology, a Diploma of Counselling, and is a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors. He combines these two sides of his background to provide simple, easy to follow tools that make use of established psychological theory to help writers develop fully rounded, interesting, realistic characters and inject conflict into their stories. Give your writing the benefit of over a decade of training and experience and discover how to have readers wanting more.
Download or read book The Science of Storytelling written by Will Storr and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling, groundbreaking guide to creative writing that reveals how the brain responds to storytelling Stories shape who we are. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions and mold our beliefs. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human. So, how do master storytellers compel us? In The Science of Storytelling, award-winning writer and acclaimed teacher of creative writing Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can write better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers—and also our brains—create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change. Will Storr’s superbly chosen examples range from Harry Potter to Jane Austen to Alice Walker, Greek drama to Russian novels to Native American folk tales, King Lear to Breaking Bad to children’s stories. With sections such as “The Dramatic Question,” “Creating a World,” and “Plot, Endings, and Meaning,” as well as a practical, step-by-step appendix dedicated to “The Sacred Flaw Approach,” The Science of Storytelling reveals just what makes stories work, placing it alongside such creative writing classics as John Yorke’s Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey into Story and Lajos Egri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing. Enlightening and empowering, The Science of Storytelling is destined to become an invaluable resource for writers of all stripes, whether novelist, screenwriter, playwright, or writer of creative or traditional nonfiction.
Download or read book The East End written by Jason Allen and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart." —Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award finalist Corey Halpern, a local high schooler, grew up working class in the Hamptons and is desperate to leave his home-town and start anew somewhere else. The summer before college, he finds escapism in sneaking into neighboring mansions and pocketing small items. One night just before Memorial Day weekend, he breaks into the wrong home at the wrong time: the Sheffield estate, where he and his mother, Gina, work. Under the cover of darkness, Leo Sheffield, patriarch and billionaire CEO, arrives unexpectedly with a companion. After a shocking poolside accident, Leo is desperate to cover up what happened before his family and friends arrive for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately for him, Corey saw everything, as did other eyes in the shadows. Secrecy, obsession and desperation dictate each character's path in this spectacular debut. With an ending as explosive as the Memorial Day fireworks on the island, The East End is an unforgettable debut about class, family secrets, and the desire to belong.
Download or read book Writing Science in Plain English written by Anne E. Greene and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-05-24 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific writing is often dry, wordy, and difficult to understand. But, as Anne E. Greene shows in Writing Science in Plain English,writers from all scientific disciplines can learn to produce clear, concise prose by mastering just a few simple principles. This short, focused guide presents a dozen such principles based on what readers need in order to understand complex information, including concrete subjects, strong verbs, consistent terms, and organized paragraphs. The author, a biologist and an experienced teacher of scientific writing, illustrates each principle with real-life examples of both good and bad writing and shows how to revise bad writing to make it clearer and more concise. She ends each chapter with practice exercises so that readers can come away with new writing skills after just one sitting. Writing Science in Plain English can help writers at all levels of their academic and professional careers—undergraduate students working on research reports, established scientists writing articles and grant proposals, or agency employees working to follow the Plain Writing Act. This essential resource is the perfect companion for all who seek to write science effectively.
Download or read book The Way They Learn written by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias and published by Focus on the Family Pub. This book was released on 1994 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The learning-styles expert gives parents a better understanding of the types of learning approaches that will help their children do better in school.
Download or read book All This Could Be Yours written by Jami Attenberg and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From critically acclaimed New York Times best-selling author Jami Attenberg comes a novel of family secrets: think the drama of Big Little Lies set in the heat of a New Orleans summer. “If I know why they are the way they are, then maybe I can learn why I am the way I am,” says Alex Tuchman of her parents. Now that her father, Victor, is on his deathbed, Alex—a strong-headed lawyer, devoted mother, and loving sister—feels she can finally unearth the secrets of who Victor is and what he did over the course of his life and career. (A power-hungry real estate developer, he is, by all accounts, a bad man.) She travels to New Orleans to be with her family, but mostly to interrogate her tight-lipped mother, Barbra. As Barbra fends off Alex’s unrelenting questions, she reflects on her tumultuous life with Victor. Meanwhile Gary, Alex’s brother, is incommunicado, trying to get his movie career off the ground in Los Angeles. And Gary’s wife, Twyla, is having a nervous breakdown, buying up all the lipstick in drugstores around New Orleans and bursting into crying fits. Dysfunction is at its peak. As family members grapple with Victor’s history, they must figure out a way to move forward—with one another, for themselves, and for the sake of their children. All This Could Be Yours is a timely, piercing exploration of what it means to be caught in the web of a toxic man who abused his power; it shows how those webs can entangle a family for generations, and what it takes to—maybe, hopefully—break free. With her signature “sparkling prose” (Marie Claire) and incisive wit, Jami Attenberg deftly explores one of the most important subjects of our age.
Download or read book How to Write Science Fiction Fantasy written by Orson Scott Card and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2001-09-15 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn to write science fiction and fantasy from a master You've always dreamed of writing science fiction and fantasy tales that pull readers into extraordinary new worlds and fantastic conflicts. Best-selling author Orson Scott Card shows you how it's done, distilling years of writing experience and publishing success into concise, no-nonsense advice. You'll learn how to: • utilize story elements that define the science fiction and fantasy genres • build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world your readers will want to explore • develop the "rules" of time, space and magic that affect your world and its inhabitants • construct a compelling story by developing ideas, characters, and events that keep readers turning pages • find the markets for speculative fiction, reach them, and get published • submit queries, write cover letters, find an agent, and live the life of a writer The boundaries of your imagination are infinite. Explore them with Orson Scott Card and create fiction that casts a spell over agents, publishers, and readers from every world.
Download or read book Why Do We Care about Literary Characters written by Blakey Vermeule and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blakey Vermeule wonders how readers become involved in the lives of fictional characters, people they know do not exist. Vermeule examines the ways in which readers’ experiences of literature are affected by the emotional attachments they form to fictional characters and how those experiences then influence their social relationships in real life. She focuses on a range of topics, from intimate articulations of sexual desire, gender identity, ambition, and rivalry to larger issues brought on by rapid historical and economic change. Vermeule discusses the phenomenon of emotional attachment to literary characters primarily in terms of 18th-century British fiction but also considers the postmodern work of Thomas Mann, J. M. Coetzee, Ian McEwan, and Chinua Achebe. From the perspective of cognitive science, Vermeule finds that caring about literary characters is not all that different from caring about other people, especially strangers. The tools used by literary authors to sharpen and focus reader interest tap into evolved neural mechanisms that trigger a caring response. This book contributes to the emerging field of evolutionary literary criticism. Vermeule draws upon recent research in cognitive science to understand the mental processes underlying human social interactions without sacrificing solid literary criticism. People interested in literary theory, in cognitive analyses of the arts, and in Darwinian approaches to human culture will find much to ponder in Why Do We Care about Literary Characters?
Download or read book Girl from Nowhere written by Tiffany Rosenhan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2020-07-21 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A fast-paced spy thriller with enough twists and turns to keep readers entertained." - Publishers Weekly Red Sparrow meets One of Us Is Lying in this action-packed, romance-filled YA debut about a girl trying to outrun her past. Ninety-four countries. Thirty-one schools. Two bullets. Now it's over . . . or so she thinks. Sophia Hepworth has spent her life all over the world--moving quickly, never staying in one place for too long. She knows to always look over her shoulder, to be able to fight to survive at a moment's notice. She has trained to be ready for anything. Except this. Suddenly it's over. Now Sophia is expected to attend high school in a sleepy Montana town. She is told to forget the past, but she's haunted by it. As hard as she tries to be like her new friends and live a normal life, she can't shake the feeling that this new normal won't last. Then comes strong and silent Aksel, whose skills match Sophia's, and who seems to know more about her than he's letting on . . . What if everything Sophia thought she knew about her past is a lie? Cinematic and breathtaking, Tiffany Rosenhan's debut stars a fierce heroine who will risk everything to save the life she has built for herself.
